Solutionary Teaching and Learning Resources

Solutionary Teaching Strategies: This collection of strategies has been adapted and developed with input from colleagues at multiple institutions - Presidio Graduate School, Bishop O’Dowd High School, the Environmental Leadership Program (ELP), the San Mateo County Office of Education (SMCOE), the California Environmental Literacy Initiative (CAELI), and the Institute for Human Education (IHE)). The strategies are categorized under the following  umbrellas: Thinking Styles, Skills, and Lenses, Knowledge Building Research Tools, and Collaborative, Interactive, and SEL Tools.

Solutionary and Environmental Books: This book list (and some videos) provides examples of solutionary stories of action and advocacy, or are books that explore environmental themes. Many are children’s books, which are great for both primary and secondary students. The curated list includes a number of sections: 

1. Solutionary Action Themed Books

2. General Environmental Themed Books

3. Climate Themed Books

4. Environmental Justice Books

5. Environmental Books by Topic: Energy, Water, Waste, Land Ecosystems, Transportation, and Food

6. Systems Thinking Books

Two different frameworks that have been used in this program include the following. More resources for these frameworks and solutionary teaching strategies can be found on the Solutionary Teaching and Learning resources page at the Resources Center for Sustainable and Climate Resilient Schools Changemakers. 

• The Content Driven Solutionary PBL Framework is built around four phases that take students from understanding basic contextual knowledge about a topic, to diving deeply into the problems and issues associated with that topic, and culminating with designing and implementing solutionary action and advocacy.

• The Research Driven Solutionary PBL Framework is built around elements of problem analysis and solutionary design that takes a systems perspective on wicked problems. The units culminate with designing and implementing solutionary action and advocacy. At the conclusion of the unit, students evaluate their impact, reflect on their enduring understandings from the unit, and celebrate personal and academic growth.

The exemplar units below have been developed in collaboration with the San Mateo County Office of Education, and San Joaquin Teachers College Environmental Literacy Master's Degree Program. These exemplars are standards aligned, and include many take-and-teach activities for both virtual (distance/remote) and on-site learning. See Exemplar Units below - grade band level units (K-2, 3-5, and 6-12) are embedded:

• • K-12 ENERGY Solutionary PBL Exemplar

  • K-12 WATER Solutionary PBL Exemplar

  • K-12 ZERO WASTE Solutionary PBL Exemplar

  • K-12 TRANSPORTATION Solutionary PBL Exemplar

  • K-12 LAND BASED ECOSYSTEMS Solutionary PBL Exemplar

  • K-12 FOOD SYSTEMS Solutionary PBL Exemplar

The following documents are templates that can be used by teachers for designing and implementing their own solutionary curriculum:

• Solutionary Curriculum Map Option: Templates and Example (7th Grade Math)

• Solutionary Unit of Study Option:  Solutionary Unit of Study Template Or Individual Lesson Plan Template (make 5-15 lesson plans)

Sharing Nature is a worldwide movement dedicated to helping people deepen their relationship with nature. The Sharing Nature  movement uses creative nature activities and Flow Learning, a revolutionary teaching system that centers ecological principles. Flow learning teaches principles of ecology and natural sciences through experiential games and stories.  Sharing Nature provides trainings that incorporate the latest research on play theory and why play is integral to profound learning.